In this process and production workshop we were using physical objects to create words or phrases, I experimented with pens, coffee, sugar, tablets and other things to create different words.
I found this task quite fun as I like to create things out of everyday objects.
During my Communication and Culture class in Sixth form, we learnt a lot about conspiracy theories and to question whether what we are told is real or not.
An example of why we should question everything is Platos cave, also referred to as the Allegory of the Cave, was featured in Plato's book 'The Republic'. In the story, there are some prisoners tied up in a cave with their heads chained so that they can only see the wall in front of them, behind them is a fire and in front of the fire is a walkway, people pass on the walkway with objects. All the prisoners can see are the shadows of the objects, most are distorted, the prisoners only know this life to be true and believe the objects to be the shadows they see. One prisoner is released and see's the reality of life outside the cave, he returns to tell the others but they do not believe him, as their reality is all they know so why would it be any different.
This is a good example to use in real life, we only see what we believe to be true, whether it be religion or just everyday life, our own reality could be hidden from us, but if we found out about it, would we carry on as we are?
'The truman show' could also be an example of the hidden reality.
In Peter Weir’s 1998 film The Truman Show, Truman Burbank, (Jim Carey), slowly discovers that his entire life has been fabricated in service of a reality television program. Truman has spent his life in the peaceful idyllic town of Seahaven, until now blissfully unaware that the town exists inside of a giant TV studio, and that he is the main character of a 24-hour reality television show called “The Truman Show”. The entire film is created as though it is a real thing, the opening credits do not feature the real names of the actors, but their names in the film and their character in the tv show (Truman Burbank- as himself).
This scene from Woody Allen's film 'Annie Hall' breaks the fourth wall by the main character speaking to the audience. Another character then gets involved and they both argue using the audience as backup, he brings in the Theorist Marshall McLuhan to argue his point and makes the joke "If life were only like this". I find this scene interesting as the man is speaking about film in a post-modern view, and they bring the post-modern fourth wall into the scene.
